Sen. Cory Booker Announces Run for President

MAHWAH, NJ-MAY 3: The Honorable Cory Booker, Mayor City of Newark, speaks at the Russ Berrie Awards for Making A Difference Celebration on May 3, 2011 at Ramapo College of New Jersey- Shutterstock

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) has announced that he’s running for president, entering an already crowded field of candidates who want to unseat President Donald Trump in 2020.

In a video released Friday, Booker is seen walking through his Newark, New Jersey neighborhood as he explains why he’s running for the nation’s highest office.

“The history of our nation is defined by collective action; by interwoven destinies of slaves and abolitionists; of those born here and those who chose America as home; of those who took up arms to defend our country, and those who linked arms to challenge and change it,” he says in the nearly two-and-a-half-minute-long video. “I’m Cory Booker, and I’m running for president of the United States of America.”

The pool of Democratic candidates who have entered the 2020 presidential race is already the most diverse in history, according to CNN.

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), who’s Black and Indian, officially announced she was entering the race on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Other candidates, such as Julián Castro, who is Latino and served as the housing and urban development secretary in the Obama administration; Pete Buttigieg, who is openly gay and the mayor of South Bend, Indiana; and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii), who is the first practicing Hindu member of Congress, are also running.

Booker was elected mayor of Newark in 2006 and served for eight years. He successfully ran for the U.S. Senate in a special election in 2013 following the death of Sen. Frank Lautenberg.

The New Jersey senator has begun to support progressive policies such as Medicare for All and has said he would reject money from Super PACS in his campaign, per CNN.

The senator, who lives in what he calls a “low-income, inner-city community” in Newark, said that the city will be home to his campaign headquarters.

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